Friday, 20 November 2009

Three little bears for school are we...

Dressed as a little bear well can be! Aren't they cute together? It almost seemed a shame to separate them...

But this morning, I did the announcement of the winners at James' school and gave the bears to their happy new owners. It was such fun and James was clearly proud as could be of his mummy - something that I hadn't foreseen but really enjoyed! And now I have to do another pattern for a dressing gown for James' Label Bear. Something else I hadn't foreseen, but you can't have everything!

This is the winning entry for Key Stage 2 - the little girl actually used real fabric on her design and I was fortunately able to find an exact match for the skirt. For the jacket, the designer had overlaid some red fabric with cream organza printed with stars. I settled for using some red Killington and embroidered it with sequins. The white top is sleeveless, and also sequinned.

This was the Key Stage 1 winner's design. It was so cute, and lovely to make! The Killington dungarees and fleece t-shirt are super-cuddly. This one is my husband's favourite.

And finally, this is the Foundation Stage winner's design. I loved how eclectic it was - is the bear being a Mountie? Or a pirate? Or is he about to go to a pilates class? Who knows! He's clearly having a good time and looks amazing. I used different jersey fabrics for this one. The belt is black elastic and the star is, alas, cardboard. The hat is black felt with white fleece applique. The trousers were a swine to make - you will note the horizontal stripes across the crotch on the original design. I did an orange applique rectangle under the waistband and called it a day!

Apparently the children love their bears and many other children got to cuddle them (the school being big into sharing!) before the bears left for their permanent homes. A successful enterprise all round, I think!